A True Partnership

For over three decades, our team has made hundreds of direct investments in high-growth technology startups. Our Deal Managers are domain experts with responsibility for both investments and M&A. And we’ve built a strong reputation for predicting market transitions and fostering global innovation. We’ve set the standard of what it means to be a founder-friendly, collaborative, and value-creating strategic investor.

Rob

Salvagno

Head of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments

Rob leads the Corporate Development team at Cisco and is responsible for driving Cisco’s M&A and Corporate Venture Capital activity. A veteran of Cisco’s Corporate Development organization, Rob has executed dozens of acquisitions and investments, constructed its major spin-ins such as Nuova and Insieme and helped launch new innovation projects within Cisco.

Rob earned his BA in economics from Stanford University.

Portfolio
Region

    Janey

    Hoe

    Head of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments

    Senior Domain Leader: Data Center
    Senior Geo Leader: Greater China

    Janey Hoe is a Vice President of Cisco Investments. Previously, she held multiple product management, technical marketing, and business development leadership roles at Cisco, operating multi-billion dollar product lines as well as pioneering new products in switching, security, data center, and video collaboration. Along with her team, she was recognized as a finalist for the Pioneer Award, the highest honor for innovation at Cisco. Prior to Cisco, Janey was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Before McKinsey, Janey worked on network protocol research with MIT LCS Laboratory, AT&T Laboratories, and HP Laboratories.

    Her work on TCP/IP performance improvements has been widely implemented and referenced.

    Janey holds a BS and MS in electrical engineering and computer sciences from U.C. Berkeley and MIT, respectively.

    Portfolio
    Regions
    • Greater China
    • US
    Domain
    • Data Center

    Derek

    Idemoto

    Head of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments

    Senior Domain Leader: Security, Service Provider, Services, Silicon
    Senior Geo Leader: Canada and APJ

    Derek and his team are currently responsible for driving Cisco’s strategy, acquisitions, and investments across its Security, Service Provider and related Services businesses. Derek is also responsible for Cisco’s corporate development activities in Canada, India, Japan, Korea, ASEAN and ANZ. Prior to joining Cisco, Derek was Managing Director of Venture Investment for ITOCHU Technology, the Silicon Valley-based technology venture capital investment and business development arm of ITOCHU Corporation. Before ITOCHU, Derek was Vice President of Corporate Development at Overture Services, the pioneer of commercial search services on the Internet, acquired by Yahoo! in 2003.

    Derek received a BS in finance and marketing from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA where he was a venture fellow.

    Portfolio
    Regions
    • Australia and New Zealand
    • Canada
    • India
    • Japan
    • US
    Domains
    • Security and Security Services
    • Service Provider and Core Services
    • Silicon

    Phil

    Kirk

    Sr. Director

    Senior Domain Leader: Cloud, Big Data and Analytics
    Senior Geo Leader: EMEAR

    Phil Kirk joined Cisco in 2007 and is currently responsible for all acquisitions and investments related to Big Data as well as Cloud software and management. Before joining Cisco, Phil was with the Microsoft Corporate Strategy team. Previously, he was an associate with DTEC Venture Capital, where he sourced and executed early stage investments in the software and networking market. Earlier, he spent time as a strategy consultant, focusing on clients in the internet and e-commerce space.

    Phil earned his MBA degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an AB degree with honors in economics from the University of Chicago.

    Portfolio
    Regions
    • Europe
    • US
    Domains
    • Big Data and Analytics
    • Cloud

    Jon

    Koplin

    Sr. Director

    Jon Koplin joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and leads the EMEA team responsible for investments, joint ventures, and acquisitions.

    Previous to Cisco, Jon worked as an early-stage technology investor with European family offices. Before moving into the investment arena, Jon held senior operating roles at Google and Samsung in Europe and Asia. Early in his career, Jon worked in Silicon Valley and in startups and was part of the management team of NetBeans (acquired by Sun Microsystems).

    Jon earned a BS in chemical engineering and an MA in classical languages from Stanford University and an MBA from INSEAD.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • Europe
    Domains
    • Big Data and Analytics
    • Cloud
    • Internet of Things

    Tyson

    Li

    Sr. Director

    Tyson Li joined Cisco Investments in 2008 and is part of the Greater China team responsible for investments, joint ventures and acquisitions. Previous to Cisco, Tyson was a Vice President at Investor Growth Capital Asia, a venture capital fund backed by Investor AB, where he invested in technology companies in the Asia Pacific region. Before moving into the investment arena, Tyson was a veteran of both startups as well as MNCs in both Asia and North America.

    Tyson holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and an engineering degree from Simon Fraser University.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • Greater China

    Rajiv

    Menon

    Sr. Director

    As Head of Cisco Investments and M&A for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), Rajiv leads an experienced team investing actively in a variety of strategic and thematic areas across Security, IOT, Storage, Connected Mobility, Collaboration, AI, Silicon as well as Country specific themes both directly and via LP positions. With an active portfolio of 24 direct investments plus 6 venture funds, the team continues to add to its APJ portfolio. Rajiv and his team are also responsible for originating and executing M&A transactions and Joint Venture partnerships across Asia Pacific & Japan.

    Prior to his current role, Rajiv served as the Managing Director for Cisco Capital Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China. In all, Rajiv has 23 years of experience in credit structuring, term lending, trade finance, venture lending, venture investing and M&A. Prior to joining Cisco, he co-founded Captive Finance Corporation that operated as an independent company for 6 years before being acquired by Fortis Bank.

    Originally from New Delhi, he began his corporate finance career with the venerable Tata Group after receiving his Masters of Finance from the University of Delhi. Rajiv now resides in Singapore with his family and is an avid Polo player.

     

    Portfolio
    Region
    • Asia Pacific

    Michael

    Porat

    Sr. Director

    Domain Leader: Data Center

    Michael joined Cisco Investments in 2012 and is leading the team driving investments in the technology stack that enables Cisco’s customers to modernize and transform their Data Centers. He brings two decades of experience in the venture ecosystem as an operator, venture capitalist and advisor. Among his past and current portfolio are Cohesity, Avi Networks, Mavenir (Acquired by Mitel), Solaredge (NASDAQ: SEDG), and Intucell (Acquired by Cisco).

    Prior to Cisco, Michael was a venture capitalist at Genesis Partners, where he focused on enterprise infrastructure & applications, as well as innovation in hardware. He began his career leading technology teams at Intel, and as Chief of Staff at ECI Telecom. He holds a BA from Yale University, where he studied economics.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Data Center

    Aleem

    Rizvon

    Sr. Director

    Domain Leader: Service Provider and Core Services

    Aleem Rizvon and his team are focused on developing inorganic growth strategies for the Service Provider sector and the Core Services market. Aleem has a long record of helping Cisco enter new markets. He led the formation of the Joint Venture with EMC and VMware to create VCE that helped Cisco enter the Converged Cloud Infrastructure market. He also led the investment in an early stage accelerator that allowed Cisco to participate in the Incubator market. Earlier at Cisco, Aleem led Product Management teams in both the Enterprise and Service Provider Segments where his teams were instrumental in bringing to market WLAN, Advanced Mobility Services, Multi-Service Switches and VoIP Media Gateways that drove revenues in excess of $1B.

    Prior to Cisco, Aleem lead product development organizations at NEC where he spent considerable amount of time in Japan, defining, developing and deploying Service Provider Core Network Products and Voice/Data Convergence Products.

    Aleem holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from Regional Engineering College in India and a master’s degree in computer science and engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domains
    • Service Provider and Core Services
    • Silicon

    Hitesh

    Saijpal

    Sr. Director

    Head of Cisco Investments Portfolio Development

    Hitesh leads the Cisco Investments Portfolio Development team whose primary goal is to deliver differentiated value to the portfolio companies by leveraging Cisco’s business enablement infrastructure. This includes participation in channel partner programs as well as showcases at major Cisco events, such as Cisco Live and Cisco Partner Summit. Hitesh also has responsibility for other functions supporting portfolio development including marketing and relationships with VCs, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, both within Cisco and across the industry. Hitesh is a Cisco veteran and joined Cisco Investments from Cisco’s Software Sales group where he was responsible for Global Software business development. Hitesh was previously the acting GM of Cisco’s $1B+ Collaboration product line and, prior to that, held leadership roles in sales with focus on security, data center, and collaboration in verticals such as financials, healthcare, technology, and retail.

    Hitesh holds an MBA degree from Santa Clara University, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, and a BS in electronics and telecommunications from the University of Mumbai.

    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

    John

    Brilliant

    Director

    Domain Leader: Enterprise Networking

    John Brilliant leads the strategy development and execution for all investments and acquisitions related to Cisco’s Enterprise Networking and Wireless portfolios. In this capacity, he brings nearly twenty years of strategy and transaction experience as an investor, operator, and investment banker.

    John joined Cisco in 2017, from PwC Corporate Finance (broker-dealer subsidiary of PwC LLP) where he was part of the founding leadership that re-launched the investment banking franchise for that firm with joint responsibility for team leadership and client origination. Prior to PwC, John was part of the senior leadership for Barclays (via the acquisition of Lehman Brothers) Global Technology Investment Banking practice where he originated and executed more than 75 financing and M&A transactions accounting for approximately $100B in aggregate transaction value for leading technology clients. Earlier in his career, John was a consultant with Andersen Consulting where he focused on advising late-stage private companies on growth strategies.

    John earned an MBA in Strategic Management & Finance from The University of Chicago GSB and a BScE in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Classical Civilization from The University of Michigan.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Enterprise Networking

    Amit

    Chaturvedy

    Director

    Domain Leader: Internet of Things

    Amit Chaturvedy joined Cisco Investments in 2014 and leads the global investment practice for Internet of Things (IoT). Prior to Cisco, Amit was at Summit Partners where he sourced and led investments in communications technology, financial services and consumer sectors in US, Europe and India. Previously, he was at Cummins Inc. where he designed software for diesel engines and led customer liaison activities for Daimler Chrysler Corporation. Amit also worked in the investment banking group at Citigroup, NY.

    Amit received mechanical engineering degrees from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Bombay and Purdue University – West Lafayette and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Internet of Things

    Daniel

    Karp

    Director

    Geo Leader: Israel and Latin America

    Daniel Karp joined Cisco Investments in 2013 and is currently focused on investment and acquisition opportunities in Israel and Latin America. Before coming to Cisco, Daniel Karp was a Senior Strategy Manager at Microsoft, where he was responsible for the strategy of Microsoft’s Startup Business Group (Microsoft’s internal Incubation projects arm), and Microsoft Research, focusing on areas such as NUI, Communications and Collaboration, Robotics, 3D Printing and Machine Learning. Prior to that, Daniel worked as a Product Manager and Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft’s Windows Azure (Public Cloud). Before Microsoft, Daniel worked as a Venture Capital Associate at Amiti Capital and held various engineering roles at Comsys Communications (acquired by Intel) and Saifun Semiconductors (acquired by Spansion).

    Daniel earned a BS in electrical and electronic engineering, from Tel-Aviv University, an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and is a graduate of an Elite Telecommunications Unit in the Israeli Defense Forces.

    Portfolio
    Regions
    • Israel
    • Latin America
    Domain
    • Silicon

    Kay

    Min

    Director

    Domain Leader: Silicon
    Geo Leader: Canada

    Kay Min joined the Cisco Investments team in 2011 and is responsible for all of Cisco’s acquisitions and investments in routing, optical networking, and photonics markets which continue to display dramatic increases in speed and component integration. Kay also has the geographic responsibility for Canada. Her extensive experience in roles of increasing responsibility in the product development and product management sides of optical networking includes both large companies (Pirelli and Lucent) as well as startups, Photuris (founding team member) and Mahi. A transition into investment banking and venture capital investing further broadened her experience.

    Kay earned an MBA degree from Georgetown University and a BS in ceramic engineering from Rutgers University.

    Portfolio
    Regions
    • Canada
    • US
    Domains
    • Service Provider and Core Services
    • Silicon

    Pankaj

    Mitra

    Director

    Geo Leader: India

    Pankaj joined Cisco Investments in 2018 and leads investment and acquisition activities in India. He was formerly at Infosys Corporate Development, where he helped enable early stage investments for Infosys’ $500M innovation fund, and also worked on M&A deals. His areas of interest range from enterprise SaaS and AI applications, to digitalization and cloud infrastructure. Previously, Pankaj was at VMware, where he helped launch VMware’s first cloud services. Prior to VMware, Pankaj was a management consultant in Deloitte’s strategy team. Pankaj started his career in an EDA startup in India (Delsoft, acq. by Mentor Graphics) and fondly remembers his days as an engineer and product manager.

    Pankaj has an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a BTech EE from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Originally from Delhi, Pankaj has lived in the Bay Area for more than a decade and is now based out of Bangalore. Outside of work, Pankaj loves to play with his two kids, is a soccer fan, and dabbles in western and Hindustani classical music.

    Region
    • India

    Tina

    Nolte

    Director

    Tina Nolte joined the Cisco Investments team in 2017 and is responsible for Cisco’s investment and acquisition efforts in the Cloud space. She began her career as a consultant at McKinsey. After McKinsey she joined Cisco’s UCS Product Management team, leading their flagship management software efforts. Following Cisco, Tina has led product management at two cloud and data center infrastructure startups, Nebula and DriveScale, and led strategic initiatives in the Office of the CTO at Pure Storage.

    Tina earned a Ph.D. in computer science from MIT and a BA in mathematics and computer science from Cornell University.

    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Cloud

    Donald

    Tucker

    Director

    Domain Leader: Collaboration

    Donald Tucker leads Cisco’s acquisition and investment efforts related to the market for Collaboration products and services. Donald joined Cisco from Oracle via the acquisition of Responsys, and prior to that spent time at Jefferies & Co., Liberty Mutual Investments and Chevron in a variety of finance, investment and research roles.

    Donald holds an MBA from Wharton and a Bachelor of Science in business from Cal Poly.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Collaboration

    Noah

    Yago

    Director

    Domain Leader: Big Data

    Noah leads the development and execution of investment strategy for big data & analytics – covering technologies that compile, process, and produce insights from information. He offers close to two decades of experience building companies as a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and board member and has led investments in Mesosphere, Cyber-Ark, Qlik Technologies, CyOptics, Getaround and many others.

    He joined Cisco in 2017 from Triangle Peak Partners. He was a venture capitalist at Israel-based JVP, and began his investment career at NY-based merchant bank Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

    Noah earned his MBA from Stanford and his BA from Tufts, where he majored in Computer Science and in German Language & Literature.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Big Data and Analytics

    Christiaan

    Kuun

    Sr. Manager

    Sr. Manager, Portfolio Development

    Christiaan is a member of the Cisco Investments Portfolio Development team. He brings portfolio companies and Cisco’s business entities together to leverage the value and scale that only Cisco can bring to our investment portfolio.

    Before joining Cisco Investments, Christiaan was part of Cisco’s Corporate Strategic Innovation Group, where he focused on various external innovation initiatives and worked across Cisco’s 14 global innovation centers. Prior to Cisco, Christiaan worked in South Africa’s largest scientific research organization (the CSIR), where he ran initiatives in artificial intelligence, and helped establish South Africa’s research and education network (SANREN).

    Christiaan holds an MBA from IMD Business School in Switzerland, and a BEng in computer engineering from the University of Pretoria in South Africa

    Regions
    • Europe
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

    Mike

    Lim

    Sr. Manager

    Mike Lim joined the Cisco Investments in 2017 as a Senior Manager and focuses on investments and acquisitions in the Data Center space. Prior to joining Cisco, Mike was an investment banker at BMO Technology Investment Banking in San Francisco, where he focused on the Enterprise Software sector and led the coverage of Industrial Technology & Software vertical. Prior to BMO, Mike worked at Deutsche Bank and ING Investment Banking in New York where he focused on M&A, debt and equity transactions in the technology sector. Mike started his career at PWC Transaction Services where he focused on complex transaction accounting and M&A valuation.

    Mike earned a BBA degree with a concentration in Finance and Accounting from Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Data Center

    Vin

    Lingathoti

    Sr. Manager

    Vin Lingathoti joined Cisco Investments in 2015 and focuses on investments and acquisitions in Cybersecurity, Data Center and Enterprise Networking in EMEA region. In his current role, Vin serves as a board observer at Panaseer, Behaviosec, Intersec, and 6Wind. He is also a member of LP Advisory Committee at Evolution Equity, Partech Ventures and Idinvest. Vin has over a decade experience in tech industry and has held multiple roles in corporate development, private equity, management consulting and product management.

    Vin earned his MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and an MS in computer science from University of Potsdam in Germany.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • Europe
    Domains
    • Data Center
    • Enterprise Networking
    • Security and Security Services

    Efrat

    Noy

    Sr. Manager

    Sr. Manager, Portfolio Development

    Efrat joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and leads our Portfolio Development efforts in the areas of Cloud and Big Data and Analytics. Prior to joining Cisco Investments, Efrat has held various Senior Product Management positions in Cisco’s Enterprise Networking and Security business units, where she led new products and services from concept to growth. Before joining Cisco, Efrat held various business development and engineering roles at Broadcom and Texas Instruments.

    Efrat holds a B.Sc. in computer science and economics, and an MBA, both from Tel Aviv University in Israel.

    Outside of her day job, Efrat is an advocate for special needs children and their families, is a mentor for high school students in STEAM education, a baker and cook, and an occasional, but by no means professional, yogi.

    Regions
    • Israel
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

    Alyson

    Pace

    Sr. Manager

    Sr. Manager, Portfolio Development

    Alyson joined the Cisco Investments team in 2017. She leads Collaboration and IoT Portfolio Development, which connects our Portfolio companies to Cisco’s ecosystem to drive go-to-market traction. With two decades of experience among sales, channel enablement, product management, and go-to-market organizations, and as an early entrepreneur in college, she is uniquely positioned to help our companies integrate with Cisco’s sellers, partners and customers. Alyson also leads Cisco Investments Sales Enablement.

    Alyson’s Portfolio companies in Collaboration include Dynamic Signal, Involvio, Voicera, Pixvana, Gong.io, HelpShift, CloudCherry, and Gainsight, among others. Within IoT, Alyson’s Portfolio includes Upskill, Kespry, Ayla Networks, AIMotive, and Worldsensing.

    Alyson holds a BA in international relations from the University of California, Davis. She’s an active competitor in 3-Day Eventing and enjoys trail running, reading, traveling, and swimming.

    Regions
    • Latin America
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

    Prasad

    Parthasarathi

    Sr. Manager

    Prasad Parthasarathi joined Cisco Investments in 2015 to focus on acquisitions, investments and inorganic strategy in the Security space. Prior to Cisco, Prasad worked in HP’s Corporate Development group where he evaluated and led a variety of transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, IP licensing, joint ventures and equity investments across Security, Enterprise Software and IT Services. Prasad joined HP from EDS Corporate Development, where he executed acquisitions in the Consulting & Systems Integration space and was a key member of the deal team that advised the EDS leadership on its $14B sale to HP. Prior to HP / EDS, Prasad held positions in Business Strategy and Corporate Finance in Singapore and India.

    Prasad earned an MBA in finance from the Indian School of Business (ISB) and studied at the Duke University on a student exchange program. In addition, he holds an undergraduate degree in business.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Security and Security Services

    Pratima

    Aiyagari

    Manager

    Pratima Aiyagari joined Cisco Investments in 2011 and is responsible for investments and acquisitions in the EMEA region with a specific focus on ML/AI, Enterprise Collaboration and Silicon. In this role, she also serves as Cisco’s board observer on several portfolio companies. Prior to her current role, she has over a decade of experience in multiple roles as a Cisco engineer in the US (in the areas of network management, access routing and advanced services), sell-side equity research in Europe covering the TMT sector (at Société Générale) and corporate development at a startup.

    Pratima received her MBA from INSEAD in France and an MS in computer science from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US. Pratima is a co-author of a US patent in the area of network device clusters and high availability.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • Europe
    Domains
    • Collaboration
    • Service Provider and Core Services
    • Silicon

    Daniel

    Fischer

    Manager

    Daniel Fischer joined the Cisco Investments team in 2015 and focuses on investments and acquisitions in Big Data, Analytics and Storage. Before joining Cisco, Daniel spent two years at Blackstone, where he worked on venture investments and corporate acquisitions. Previously, Daniel was an investment banking analyst in Citi’s Industrial group in New York.

    Daniel graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Economics and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Big Data and Analytics

    Tomer

    Goldberg

    Manager

    Tomer Goldberg joined Cisco Investments in 2016 and focuses on the full range of strategic initiatives, including acquisitions and investments, that Cisco pursues in Israel. Prior to Cisco, Tomer was at Audible, an Amazon company, as a Senior Product Manager focused on web and mobile apps, and before that, Tomer was at Deloitte Consulting working with Technology, Media and Telecom clients. Tomer began his career in the Israeli Defense Forces’ UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) unit as a pilot and officer.

    Tomer holds an MBA from Columbia University’s Business School and an LLB from the University of Haifa, Israel.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • Israel

    Gilbert

    Guan

    Manager

    Gilbert Guan joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on investments, joint ventures and acquisitions in the Greater China team. Prior to Cisco, Gilbert was at next47 (a Siemens venture firm) where he focused on additive manufacturing, robotics, connected mobility, AI and IoT. Before next47, he worked at Xcelerate, a private equity firm in Shanghai, after having worked at Value Partners Management Consulting in Hong Kong covering the TMT and consumer sectors. Gilbert began his career in engineering and product management with Ericsson, Wistron and Tangram (a Shanghai based startup).

    Gilbert holds an MBA from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a BS in computer networking from Fudan University and a mechanical and electrical engineering degree from the Shanghai Institute of Technology.

     

    Region
    • Greater China
    Domains
    • Big Data and Analytics
    • Data Center
    • Internet of Things
    • Security and Security Services

    Jack

    Ren

    Manager

    Before joining Cisco Investments, Jack was an IoT project manager at China Mobile in Beijing and was a R&D manager of smart phones at Samsung Electronics in South Korea. He also co-founded a startup for mobile TV solution in Beijing before joining in Samsung, after three-year experience in software development at Sony Ericsson in Japan.

    Jack was an IoT project manager at China Mobile in Beijing and was a R&D manager of smart phones at Samsung Electronics in South Korea. He also co-founded a startup for mobile TV solution in Beijing before joining in Samsung, after three-year experience in software development at Sony Ericsson in Japan.

    Jack holds an MBA degree from Yale School of Management and a PhD degree in communication systems from Tsinghua University.

    Jack published one Chinese book FPGA/CDLD Advanced Application Development Guide in 2003. He speaks English, Chinese and Japanese and loves badminton and reading.

    Region
    • Greater China
    Domains
    • Cloud
    • Collaboration
    • Internet of Things

    Ankur

    Saxena

    Manager

    Ankur Saxena joined Cisco Investments in 2016 and is currently focused on investment and acquisition opportunities in Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Prior to Cisco, Ankur worked in a variety of roles in venture capital, private equity and investment banking in Amazon’s Corporate Development team, The Carlyle Group, Helion Venture Partners and Avendus Capital in the US and India.

    Ankur earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He also holds a B. Tech. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Internet of Things

    Shiv

    Sharma

    Manager

    Shiv Sharma joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on investment and acquisition opportunities in the Collaboration market. Before joining Cisco, Shiv interned at Fidelity International in London analyzing global internet equities and worked in Private Equity at Palisade Capital Management where he focused on various growth-oriented investments. Previously, Shiv was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Technology Group at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

    Shiv earned an MBA from INSEAD, an MS in commerce from the University of Virginia, and a BA in economics & commerce from Hampden-Sydney College.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Collaboration

    Aida

    Vaziri

    Manager

    Business Operations Lead for Cisco Investments Portfolio Development

    Aida leads the operational activities and events for portfolio development with the primary goal to deliver a differentiated value to the portfolio companies.

    This includes building tools, processes, as well as presence of our portfolio companies in large scale events such as Cisco Live. Aida is a Cisco veteran with over 10+ years’ experience in building transformational operational capabilities for various products lines in Cloud, Hybrid Cloud and UCS, as well as Channels enablement for Collaboration business unit launching our Cloud based collaboration platform Webex Teams.

    Aida holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from UC Berkeley – Haas School of Business.

    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

    Divya

    Venkatachari

    Manager

    Divya joined Cisco Investments in 2014 and focuses on investment and acquisition opportunities related to the Cloud market. She started her career in a technology role at Next Jump, an internet and e-commerce company. Following that, she was a management consultant at Opera Solutions. Most recently, Divya spent a summer as an Associate covering Technology at a global investment bank.

    Divya received her bachelor’s from Anna University, India and master’s from Johns Hopkins University, both in computer science; and an MBA from Wharton.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Cloud

    Sarena

    Ahmad

    Associate

    Sarena Ahmad joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on investments and acquisitions in the Data Center space. Prior to Cisco, Sarena was at Faraday Future, an electric vehicle start-up based in Los Angeles. Previously, she was in the Industrials Group at Deutsche Bank in New York.

    Sarena holds a BA from Wellesley College, where she studied economics and philosophy.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Data Center

    Karim

    Anchassi

    Associate

    Karim Anchassi joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on Big Data related investments and acquisitions. Before coming to Cisco, Karim was at Jefferies Technology Investment Banking Division in New York. At Jefferies, he has helped complete M&A, equity, and debt related transactions across various verticals.

    Karim graduated magna cum laude from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where he received a BS in finance. He is fluent in English and Arabic and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma honors society.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Big Data and Analytics

    Stephen

    Chou

    Associate

    Stephen Chou joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on investments and acquisitions in the Cloud space. Prior to Cisco, Stephen worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse in New York and Hong Kong, where he focused on equity offerings and M&A transactions in the technology sector.

    Stephen earned a MS in operations research from Columbia University and a BS in mechanical engineering from University of California, San Diego.

     

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Cloud

    Nathan

    Reynolds

    Associate

    Nathan Reynolds joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on acquisitions and investments in the Security space. Prior to joining Cisco, Nathan worked in Barclays’ Financial Institutions investment banking team, providing strategic advice, market insights, and transaction execution to clients across the FinTech and financial services industries.

    Nathan graduated magna cum laude from Williams College, where he received a BA in economics and a B.A. in political science.

    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Security and Security Services

    Arnav

    Sahu

    Associate

    Arnav joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on investment and acquisition opportunities in the IoT space. Before joining Cisco, Arnav worked at The Blackstone Group in New York. Arnav earned a BA in economics at Cornell University, where he was a Tata Scholar.

    Portfolio
    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Internet of Things

    Lou

    Stokum

    Associate

    Lou joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and focuses on investments and acquisitions relating to Cisco’s Service Provider, Core Services, and Silicon businesses. Before joining Cisco, Lou co-founded EdFundr – a tech startup providing social fundraising solutions to colleges and universities. Previously, Lou was an Analyst at PEI Funds in New York, where he evaluated private equity secondary investment opportunities.

    Lou graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a BA in economics.

     

    Region
    • US
    Domains
    • Service Provider and Core Services
    • Silicon

    Simona

    Belinova

    Event Coordinator

    Simona joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and manages all events for our portfolio companies. In her previous role, she supported the Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence program. Before joining Cisco, Simona worked at Salesforce as a Training Coordinator.

    She graduated cum laude with a BA in graphic design from San Jose State University.

    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

    Giselle

    Omar

    Marketing Manager

    Giselle leads marketing strategy for Cisco Investments. In addition to driving awareness for the organization, she focuses on joint marketing opportunities with our portfolio companies. She joined Cisco’s Data and Analytics product marketing group in 2015 through the ParStream acquisition. In her previous marketing roles, Giselle was accountable for executing all elements of integrated, multi-channel marketing programs. As an entrepreneur, she launched a multi-faceted company in Afghanistan focusing on media and services. Her current role allows her to combine her passion for digital marketing, screenwriting and technology. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, East Bay.

    Region
    • US
    Domain
    • Portfolio Development

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